Legally she’s within her rights to keep going as long as he keeps getting up and resumes the attack. Or, failing that, if she can plausibly argue that he would have kept getting up had she stopped kicking his ribs in. She can’t kill him unless it looks genuinely accidental, though.

Or, plan B: don’t get caught! All she has to do is run, and Danny will regretfully turn Sal into the police to pay for her crimes. Due to morals and stuff.

Arrested for what exactly? Her attack there just saved Danny who had essentially become a hostage. Chances are that he’ll try to attack back as well leading her to then have to beat him down to protect herself and Danny. Plus, to be arrested, there would have to actually be you know, POLICE there.

Interesting… I don’t know if she’d recognize him since she didn’t recognize Amber, but I would think that he might recognize her. I guess that he mostly sees her as she’s moving by and so he doesn’t get to see her face due to all of the hair.

I was mostly remembering when she DIDN’T beat up those vandals and instead unbolted and took the sign. Indicating nonviolence.

So I guess she’s only violent when specifically confronted with violence? Which Blaine didn’t actually do in this instance (grabbing Danny’s arm isn’t overtly violent), so it’s still a break in character. I guess?

I think it’s because Amazi-girl isn’t fighting Blaine, Amber is. She isn’t fighting to protect anyone or stop some wrong doing, she’s acting purely out of revenge and rage. Amazi-girl fight’s for justice, but this is a personal matter.

It’s a line he won’t cross except when there’s a new writer who wants to explore their own personal notions of what it would take to get Batman to cross the line he won’t cross.

(The right answer is, “No, it’s a line he won’t cross. ‘Cause if he crosses it, all those times he didn’t kill the Joker and the Joker escaped Arkham and then killed a whole mess more people, as he does, are on Batman’s head, and he doesn’t even have the excuse, ‘That’s a line I won’t cross,’ to shield himself if it’s a line he’ll cross to dispose of a villain who’s inconvenient to capture but not cross to save the lives of howevermany hundreds of innocents the Joker has killed and will kill in future.”)

Eh, we know his parents aren’t great, but it seems they were at least somewhat better before he came out. Maybe he had a chance to deal with this in a healthy way? (Or maybe he just pushed it all deep down inside for it to boil over at some point, who knows! People are complicated and handle things differently.)

Actually the Ethan we see in the flashbacks was killed by Sal; the current Ethan is a replacement goldfish that Amber pushed into the role and clings to to make up for Her Greatest Failure. (Original) Ethan’s parents put up with the charade for her sake, but only barely.

Anybody else feel an adrenaline rush of awesomeness immediately after seeing the last panel quickly followed by the realization that it probably would not end well?
Especially after reading the alt-text.

I thought the alt-text and the not-tagged-Amazigirl was a reference to her failing to disguise her voice. The speech bubble is going from Amazi-Blue to Amber-White, so Danny and Blaine might recognize her voice and identify her as Amber. So this comic is tagged Amber instead of Amazigirl as that’s the persona she’s showing to the other people incomic.

It was previously established that Sal robbed a convenience store, and that Amber was there and somehow traumatized by it (Ethan being taken hostage was not revealed until today). And Amber has seen Sal a few times and then got kind of freaked out. Her seeing Sal talking to Danny happened recently and freaked her out extra; this happened very recently in-universe.

I was really confused at first because I thought Amber was the one saying “here’s a hostage” and I was like, so what, she helped out a criminal because she thought it would make her cool and now feels guilty for giving into peer pressure? Why was she letting Sal take her friend hostage?

Then I realized that was Sal’s line, and that it’s my brain which doesn’t make sense and not the comic. WHOOPS

Yeah, I’m getting the impression that he was, for whatever reason, less traumatized by the event than Amber was. Probably because, while his parents(mom) are(is) horrible, they’re passive-aggressive-horrible, not violent-horrible like Blaine is, so he has an easier time metabolizing violence than Amber does.

I don’t know if they saw eachother in any other strip, but that looks a lot like he only saw her from the back, and considering how different her hair looks, I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t recognise her.

Everyone keeps saying that. I disagree. While I still expect Amber’s dad to don a supervillian costume at some point, I expect this storyline to come down to Amazigirl facing some of her inner demons, dealing with them, and coming out stronger. I also wouldn’t be surprised if it involved Andy finding out who she actually is and eventually resolving their relationship one way or another.

. . . Why? A: It was years ago and she was caught, sentenced, and punished for what she did, B: It’s increasingly clear that that face in panel one is one of terrified posturing and youthful stupidity.

I don’t think Amber dealing with Sal the way she is with Blaine* would be all that helpful, but I agree with the underlying sentiment that Sal owes Amber and Ethan some kind of restitution even if it’s just that she acknowledges the impact of what she did.

Right now it’s not clear if Sal ever gave Amber or Ethan another thought. I’m holding off on making any judgments about Sal until I see how she handles the eventual confrontation with Amber (or how Willis writes it, I should say).

*Which is not to say that I think this wasn’t the best way to deal with Blaine – he damn well deserved an ass-kicking and it’s probably a very cathartic moment for Amber.

Huh? Although I did just say that Amber assaulting Sal wouldn’t be helpful, I don’t quite understand your comment. There’s nothing random about Amber’s ill will towards Sal (who held her best friend at knifepoint) and Sal is not exactly innocent. Sal’s own issues don’t erase the fact that she did something that hurt innocent people.

That was a reply to the person you replied to, though it’s easy to lose track of the threading on here sometimes. But Sal is innocent of any current wrongdoing. She was caught and punished for her crime, she has not committed any new ones, and an assault on her at this point would certainly to her seem like a random attack from somebody she probably only knows as a floor-mate. She has no reason to attack Sal right now, so I would consider it a “random attack”.

Except that Sal’s original act of wrongdoing had consequences that are still playing out in the here and now. Sal bears *some* responsibility for that.

What bothers me is that we haven’t seen a a trace of evidence to suggest that Sal gives any thought to how traumatising her actions might have been to others. Yes, that flashback indicates she was pretty traumatised herself, but that doesn’t mean she’s excused of all responsibility for the consequences of her actions.

There’s a lot we don’t know yet – exactly how Sal feels about her crime in hindsight, whether she had any contact with Ethan and Amber afterwards, whether she ever made any attempt to apologise, so I’m reserving judgment. But I’m hoping that when these issues eventually come to a head Sal doesn’t cop out.

Well I doubt she’d have a -chance- to apologize, what with the shipping off to juvie. But there are a host of facts you’re glossing over there. We as a society have agreed upon certain punishments for certain acts. Sal was caught, assigned a punishment according to her crime, and that punishment was carried out. That, -by- -itself-, should be enough to earn her a clean slate so long as she does not commit other criminal acts.

On top of that, She was a -child-. She’s not any older than Amber, remember? Under the law, minors are not held to the same legal standard as adults, and there’s a -reason- for that. They’re still cooking, and more likely to make terrible mistakes. As such, it is unfair to hold them responsible for their actions to the same degree that we do an informed adult.

I think Sal deserves some crap for trying to improve her grades by boinking her professor, but this? She was punished for this, in accordance with the law.

Would it be nice for her to apologize to Amber if she knew who she was? Yeah, sure. Probably. I know some people who’d prefer she just stayed the hell away and acted like they didn’t know each other. But the post I was replying to wasn’t about apologies, or giving space, it as about Amber hunting somebody down for the purpose of physical, violent -revenge-. That’s not justice, and I don’ think that’s what Amber thinks Amazi-girl is about.

Blaine abused her. Ethan befriended her, tried to protect her from the scarey world and integrate her into society,”hey get some Twinkies”. Sal scared the shit out of her: makes sense, Amber is way sensitive to violence. And Sal takes her friend hostage.

Blaine grabs Danny, whom Amber likes for reasons not understood by most people. But she does. And Blain has taken him hostage.

Never Again.

Just the icing on the cake for Amber Amazi-Girl’s rage.

Good for you, hit ‘im again. And throw Danny across the parking lot if he gets in your way. But…don’t stay there too long, I don’t want you to go to jail for beating the shit out of Blaine-who has to be the hands down winner of the “You Deserved This” award.

Also, the hold-up scene–Sal taking Ethan hostage and Amber being helpless (but feeling responsible, somehow) is explaining much about Amber’s psyche. I bet Amber felt that way when Blaine was beating up her mother, too.

For a second there, I read panel three as Amber panicking in the moment and tossing Ethan to Sal as an attempt to get on Sal’s good side and save her own skin.
That would be a great plot twist and origin story for some other comic, but in this particular case I’m glad my brain just farted a lil’ bit.

Is it safe to assume that the Walkertons give Walky preferential treatment not because he’s “whiter”, but because he never held up convenience stores in his spare time? Or am I potentially swapping cause/effect.

Eh, the fact that Billie, who knows them better than her own family, immediately thought Sal’s theory had legs, and that Walky, once he calmed down and thought about it, was less than certain, is evidence on Sal’s side, to me.

Of course, the latter still implies a hint of the first, for that matter it’s quite possible she was “Acting up” before she robbed the convenience store, which only exacerbated the original issue (racism).

But speculation is kinda pointless, the main thrust is:
Cause and effect are very rarely clear cut, especially with people 😛

I cant help but think young Willis would have thought of Honor thy Father and Mother and would have been fearful of making this strip. He probably would of had drawn them both having a tearful reconciliation at church like a Chick Publication comic or something. Thoughts?

I wonder if Amber has a subconscious fear that the holdup influenced Ethan’s sexuality in some way and doesn’t want the same happening to her new boyfriend. I don’t think Amber is dumb, but she can think and behave irrationally about Ethan, her father, and her past (very understandably mind you).

Next page, Danny saves the day…

Or Steve eats a bowl of cereal…

Plus, I’m sure Mike has commented that Danny is already two testicles short of a full man to her at some point.

“Or would you prefer me to tell him exactly what kind of little spaz you are?”
I’m beginning to think that something more happened at the gas station than just Ethan being taken hostage. Maybe Amber ‘lost’ it?

Sal is clearly uncertain and stammering, and we have anecdotal evidence that suggests she won’t actually stab and kill her hostage. Basically she’s being as inoffesive and woobieish as a hostage-taker can be. Thus we forgive her.

Plus, like one panel over we get to see Blaine get kicked in the face! Who could look away from that!?

I’m too lazy to sift through 400+ comments to see if this has been said already, so…
I caught the change from AmaziGirl to Amber speech when she kicked Blaine.
I think in a major way she’s coming to terms with all the hurt and rage and fear and will soon no longer need an AmaziGirl persona to help her deal with it all.
She’s also going to unmask, because she’s going to want Blaine to know it is her, and might be ready to reveal herself to Danny.
Danny may initially be shocked at her brutality, but I suspect this will pass, and we’ll see them patrolling rooftops together. As AmaziGirl and… um… WienerBoy.

wild freaking guess:
Amber snuck out of the convenience store and told her father what was happening, and he drove away without trying to save Ethan. Amber worries that on some level, Ethan is mad at her for that, and that’s why it didn’t work out between the two of them.

Now, not to put too fine a point on it here, but I have a feeling that it didn’t work out between Amber and Ethan because Ethan is gay.

I mean, Ethan and Joyce are a thing but I’d not really call what’s happening with them “working out” either, and Ethan has also had a lot more of people totally being asshats about him being gay since he came out and is possibly even less accepting of it now than when he first realized it.

Counterargument/suggestion: perhaps Jon P’s scenario is partially correct, and despite the obvious explanation for why things didn’t work between Ethan and Amber, Amber still has that nagging doubt (brought back to the surface by Ethan and Joyce being a thing) that perhaps that scenario *is* what caused it, reality and evidence to the contrary.

Yeah, that was my idea. I mean, Ethan knows why it didn’t work, but Amber might be thinking “if only I had done something to help, we would’ve had something.”
Crazy-ass theory, of course, and AFAIK we don’t quite know the timing on when the hold-up occurred relative to prom.

yes about time Blaine got a ass kicking and from his own daughter amazing girl. for doubtful blaine will want to tell the cops that he was setting up his own daughter and using danny as bait. though hope amazing girl is smart enough not to go over board and kill blaine.

THIS IS HUGE PEOPLE WHO DONT UNDERSTAND WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS GUY COMES ON HERE EVERY SINGLE DAY AND JUST SAYS “great page” EVERY FUCKIN DAY. And not just here! On other webcomics too! Every single day, “great page”, nothing less, nothing more. Getting “boot to the face”- with an exclamation point, no less- means that this is probably the single greatest comic strip on the internet. Wow.